Portland police, probation officers and gang outreach workers will be out in force this weekend, concerned about a potential uptick in gang-related violence, particularly on Sunday.

Why?

June 8, police say, seems to be a time when members of the Woodlawn Park Bloods gang seem to act out.

The significance of the date?

Their stomping ground, Woodlawn Park, is located in the 6800 block of Northeast Claremont Street. Get it? 6/08.

Last June 8, Portland police said there were four gang-related shootings in the city.

So far this year, Portland police have been called out to 52 gang-related incidents, mostly shootings and stabbings. That's up from 35 during the same period a year ago. There have been 16 people shot and four people stabbed in gang-related violence this year, gang enforcement Sgt. Don Livingston said.

"The violence is definitely on the rise,'' he said. "We're looking at some busy times ahead.''

In the last two weeks, there were six gang-related shootings and one stabbing in Portland, Livingston reported Friday.

A woman was stabbed at a party on May 25 in a home near Southeast Stark Street and 138th Avenue. Most of the other calls involved drive-by shootings.

About 9:54 p.m. on May 24, there was an exchange of gunfire between two vehicles near Northeast Sixth Avenue and Davis Street. No one was hit that officers are aware of, but one car was struck. They found 10 shell casings in the road.

Just after midnight May 27, an apartment in the 15900 block of N.E. Sandy Boulevard was shot up. No one was injured. Police found shell casings fitting three different weapons in the parking lot, Livingston said.

In April, a group of youth hiding in the bushes at Woodlawn Park yelled out "Hoover,'' to a group playing basketball and then fired several gunshots. No one was struck, Livingston said.

East Precinct Cmdr. Sara Westbrook said she's assigned "sporadic extra patrols'' throughout the summer in the hot spot areas, including around Burnside, Stark Street and Powell Boulevard, "to see if we can cool this down a bit.''

Portland gang outreach worker Robert Blake urged adults to find alternative activities for at-risk youth. He said outreach workers recently took kids right off the intersection of North Albina Avenue and Killingsworth Street and brought them bowling.

It's "as simple as going and putting them in your car and driving them out of the area,'' Blake said.

Carolyne Haycraft, one of the organizers of the new BoyStrength violence prevention program the Police Bureau is offering, said several middle school boys who took the first courses asked her what they should do if they're approached or threatened by a gang member.

Haycraft said she could only find the phone number of one gang outreach worker to share with the children, but she suggested the city come up with a phone number that youth can easily access to reach out to gang outreach workers at any time of the day or night.